Seventh Hour
by Ejunkiet
Summary: Why do you fear god, Sakura? You can't fight the inevitable. Pein and Sakura. PeinSaku.


**Seventh Hour**

_Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto. This will contain spoilers if you don't know who Pein is. _

_Authors note at the end_

* * *

The patter of rain fell around her, sprinkling her face, seeping through the thin fabric of her clothes to her cold clammy skin. She shivered, a movement that was lost amongst the exhausted trembles of her muscles, as she fought harder against the cold creeping along the edges of her consciousness. The sound of a battle continued raging in the distance, the swish of cloaks and the clatter of kunai as the remnants of Anbu team 11 fought a losing struggle after an unexpected ambush off the border of Waterfall. Hearing a scream of agony, she fought harder, scouring her body for any last shreds of chakra, any at all, to heal, heal damn it, wasn't she supposed to be there, protecting her weakened comrades? Gathering up her strength and gritting her teeth against the pain, she focused her remaining energies and forced herself up, up off of her side, shaking arms lifting her up from the bloodied mud, and messily sliding her feet under herself. Tears sprouting up in her eyes, she managed to finally get herself on to her knees, glassy emeralds scrunched up in pain- before her last shreds of strength ran out and she fell, collapsing onto the cold hard ground. There was a strangled cry somewhere ahead of her, and the tears she had been refusing to let fall broke through her barriers as she heard the following resounding thud, before-

Silence.

The rain continued to fall.

Gathered up her strength once again, she forced her eyes open, blinking desperately through the droplets of water that had started collecting on her eyelashes. Managing to get in focus and ignoring the dark blotches that danced along her vision, she surveyed the devastation hazily, her eyes' travel around the area stunted at the site of the team leaders head only a foot away from her own, before a rustle brought her hazy attention abruptly back to the front- and she froze as she saw black sandaled feet in front of her. Fear flooding through her, she managed to drag her gaze upwards as they slid back, their owner kneeling, a pale face surrounded by fire drawing closer as strange ringed eyes pierced hers and an icy cold grip enclosed around her chin. There was a scuffle, and the man was now sitting in front of her, and then the eyes came closer as she felt herself being dragged inescapably towards him. Fingers slipped and scrabbled at the mud below her, attempting to tug back, but they stopped at the site of the never ending circles in the silver glare seeming to pulse, contracting and expanding lazily. She stared into the depths, unable to pull away, or do anything, heart rate slowing, as her eyes began to glaze, and she vaguely felt a hand prop against her shoulder as she began to fall forward. A movement, and then hot breath at her ear-

"Why do you fear God?"

-and then her world fell into darkness.

* * *

Light. Bright light. Blinding. Ow. She grimaced; forehead scrunching as she turned her face away, to find it did no good whatsoever. She groaned. _Damn it._ Reached up in an attempt to cover her eyes and block it out, she found her hands trapped underneath her, and frowning tried rolling to the side a little so she could slide them out- but found she couldn't. Frowning in confusion, and still refusing to open her eyes, she flexed her fingers and tried again, a tremble worming it's way through her body as her muscles protested, and she flopped, panting, back on to the floor. Annoyance growing, she growled, tugging herself around hard, putting chakra into the movement, as she wrangled with her exhausted limbs, finally managing to tilt and relieve the pressure- to have it replaced with even stronger pressure than before, just above her wrists. She twisted her hands, wincing as they were crushed into each other, before freezing as her fingers closed around the rough texture of rope. 

Eyes flying open she sat bolt upright, balking as the sun blinded her, before wheeling back in shock as she found herself back in the clearing, the no longer muddy bloodstained dirt beneath her stirring up in a cloud of dust with her abrupt movements. Ignoring the sharp pain in her side and the weakness of her muscles as she scoured her body for chakra, she tore her hands apart, putting the fact they were tied aside for later, before stumbling up and forwards to the closest complete body she could find. Desperate fingers curling under the Anbu mask to rip it off, shaking, in their scrambling search for a pulse, tears once more threatening to fall as she found nothing, and the iciness of their skin told her that there was no way they could be brought back. Stumbled up to her feet, she scrambled to find the next, and then the next, violent shakes building up along her frame, before blood loss and lack of energy forced her to the floor, where she lay, tears falling freely from her eyes as she grasped that she truly was the only one left. A wave of dizziness bringing her back to the pain in her side, she looked down to watch her blood flowing now freely from what looked like a kunai stab to her abdomen, the blood she now noticed in the back of her throat as she fought down the urge to vomit telling her that it had most likely grazed, if not punctured, an internal organ.

Another wave of dizziness told her that she should have paid attention earlier, and she tried to raise her hands up to start healing, but found that the most she could do was settle them on the wound before everything suddenly multiplied and she lost control, hands falling with a thump back to the ground. It took a couple more tries before she realised that she had no energy and that -she blinked at herself, surprised- she didn't care. A strangled laugh slipped through her lips, closely followed by an onslaught of coughing. She really didn't care, did she? An image flashed through her mind, one of Naruto before she had left, battered and bruised, but thankfully alive from his latest kidnapping attempt by the Akatsuki, and she felt a pang of regret, before self disgust. She had been no help on that mission either, had she? She was just a liability, his bond to her that she did not deserve always holding him back, herself always holding him back, no matter how much stronger she tried to become, or became. She shut her eyes, tears falling more forcefully down her cheeks. She hadn't helped them, either. Hadn't been able to dodge that attack that had rendered her useless, made her unable to perform the only task she was there for -and what if they were team seven next time? What if it was Naruto's head inches away from her own, severed from his body? Was she to be the cause of his death too? Was he to die because she was so weak, because she couldn't perform her duty- or should she.

Right here, right now.

Right now, where her death would affect nobody- sure, Naruto might be upset, but he would be alive. And that was all that mattered.

She smiled.

This would be best.

A rustle brought her attention back to the present, and her eyes fluttered open hazily to watch as her hand moved of its own accord to her side. A pause, and then a flicker as green light radiated from her palm, and she forced herself to focus harder as she acknowledged what she was seeing, confusion piercing through her as she felt her head get clearer and the pain fade steadily away. The dizziness departed soon after, and her mind wheeled -but she didn't have the energy, she knew that, and a minute ago couldn't even move her own hand; how- There was a chuckle, and she froze as she recognised her own voice. She glanced around sharply- but then she was standing, wound gone, examining herself in the sunlight- examining her hands, her palm, her fingerprints –what? She forced her palms face down, clenching them into fists before going to raise them to her head- but they were suddenly flaring with chakra she didn't remember collecting, and then hitting the ground, her body leaping out of the way of the flying debris as the whole clearing was turned into a pile of rubble. She felt a wave of fear as she tried to stop herself once she hit the ground but had no effect, no control of her body, her speech, even her thoughts? As she began to struggle and enforce her will harder-

"It's no use."

There was silence. She was standing on a branch, facing the wreckage, eyes briefly scanning the area before she sank into a crouch, hands pulling out a kunai to twirl it around her fingers. She watched as her body chuckled once more, spinning the kunai faster, faster, before her wrist twisted sharply and sent it flying into a tree opposite, faster than she normally would have been able to follow had her eyes not already been trained on it. There was a grunt of satisfaction, before out came another kunai, and another, following the first in quick succession, to land millimeters away from the others mark, in parallel. She tried to speak, make a sound, any sound, but there was another chuckle, deeper, darker.

_I told you, it's no use_.

There was a clatter as the weapons pouch dropped to the ground, weapons rolling off to into the undergrowth, then a light thump as her body followed shortly after. She felt a tug at her shoulder, although there was no hand, then the feeling of hot intensity burning from behind her-

And then she could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, be nothing, except… she was. She shook her head- but she had no head- and she just floated, in whatever this was. Forever... in this calm, comforting darkness, and she sighed as warm arms enclosed her, restraining her, binding her -she could do nothing, as she wasn't there, wasn't anywhere, so why fight, why struggle, why not just let go…

* * *

The wind picked up, slipping through the cracks and crevices in the trees before it twirled around a solitary figure, sending pink tresses whipping wildly. There was a rustle of movement where there hadn't been any for hours before the woman seemed to stir, hands clenching and unclenching awkwardly, before freezing. There was silence. 

In a sudden movement, she stood, poignant emeralds shining with a bright intensity that seemed to pierce through the gathering shadows in and around the trees surrounding her as she gave the area a cursorily sweep. She glanced at the sun, smiling wryly as she took in its position, before pushing herself up with a flash of chakra into the branches and on her way.

_That had taken longer than I though it would, Sakura._

The woman shut her eyes briefly, a smirk curving up the corners of her lips.

_It was worth it though. _It wouldn't take long. Once they had the final Jinchuuriki, the sealing ritual would be simple, the final rite's sacrifices already prepared; - and then the plan would truly start. Eyes opening once again, the woman's smirk widened into a full blown grin as silver rings danced softly around her pupil.

**And then the world would be pure.**

_

* * *

A/N; That was really fun to write, once I actually got into it. Probably not really PeinSaku, very confusing, and I am kind of bending a few rules that I decided with myself about the limits of Pein's ability, although we really have no idea yet. XD I hope you enjoy it at least._


End file.
